Its days are numbered ...

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I've always felt too guilty to claim back food expenses too. Travel and accommodation yes, but never food. If it's an overnighter my case normally has some snacks and drinks in to keep me going!

Although I've come off badly on accommodation a few times - boss asks us to find the cheapest accommodation. Last summer I stayed in a dump of a place that made me pay before giving me my room key, shared bathroom on the landing and narrower than single bed in the room. My colleagues all had double en suite rooms in a nicer part of the city. To add insult to injury they were also claimed their taxi fares while I was walking 30mins from venue to accommodation!

misscousinitt

Dawn - you are probably right on the smell front lol...

Expenses - I don't get expenses very often as I don't go out of the office much; but I must say that I am guilty of claiming lunch when were exhibiting at the NEC a few weeks back - to be fair, it would have been difficult to take lunch as there was nowhere to store it and as I only go out of the office once every two years (four years in this case) I thought that I deserved a couple of nice lunches on the company for a change.

Saying that, I agree with you about only claiming if its a significant expense - I've bought the odd thing for the office, stationary wise or some soap for the ladies and haven't put in for expenses - I think if I was out of the office on a regular basis I would be the same - but good on you...

MCI

DawnW

Lol MRN, I think you must work where I used to :rotfl:

Accommodation when out of the office is ok where I am now, and I get a certain amount of choice. However, I find Premier Inn type places preferable to be honest, as they are quite keyed in to the issues of women travelling alone for work. They are also often cleaner than many swankier hotels in my experience, and lack obsequious (sp?) staff who assume you are a rich tourist (as opposed to an ordinary working person) hassle for tips all the time.

I have had some 'interesting' experiences over the years, including unlocking my room and finding a man inside (not his fault, the hotel had double booked the room, and he was very nice about it) and on another occasion having to throw out a very forward international room service staff member who thought I had ordered more than an omelette :eek:

Premier Inns / Travelodge type places I have never had this type of experience!! And to be honest, all of these have happened in the UK, and never when I have been abroad for work, where everything has always been ok :A

Not saying people shouldn't claim expenses - just that I don't usually bother Probably as much laziness on my part as any higher moral purpose :rotfl:I am not a great one for eating out in any case, as I like to know what is in whatever it is I eat, and am often disappointed when I could have done better myself at home :rotfl:

DawnW

No spends today :j

OH appeared back from his trip with 2 huge venison joints he had been given - I have managed to cram one into the freezer (not sure how :eek:) and he is currently mincing the other one up for burgers.

Store cupboard dinner tonight - frittata made with fridge bottom veg and an elderly piece of chorizo (better than it sounds, honest :rotfl:) and salad.

Baked the sourdough bread experiment before work this morning - it looks ok, though not fantastic - haven't tried it yet. Worst case scenario it will feed the chickens Unlikely it will be so bad that they will reject it :eek:

Had a letter from BT to say that they are putting our direct debit up. I will have to ring them and check we are on the most appropriate plan for our usage, and if they can't do any better, look at changing supplier.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

A threat to look else where might be all BT need to keep dd as it was!

SmileyG_2

Hello Dawn

Just caught up with your thread (thanks for commenting on mine....) . Congratulations on having offset the mortgage!

Are you going to pay down the whole mortgage now or do you have a minimum savings level that you are going to maintain?

SmileyG

DawnW

Ooh been awol for a few days - worn out from work

Still haven't tackled BT - hmm, might sort them tomorrow. I am in the mood, as I have done some serious 'sorting' at work today :rotfl:

SmileyG - OH is supposed to be getting his pension at the end of next month, and is 'supposed' to get a lump sum with it (can't you just tell I don't trust pensions ). If this materialises, we will pay the mortgage off with that. We will see. If it doesn't, I will keep OP - ing as and when (but probably pay off a lump sum as well) but don't want to totally decimate savings, as I wouldn't feel comfortable with that (had so many insecure years ) and besides that we need to get the roof done :eek:

Other news - not much. Got a huge CC bill for which I will probably need to raid savings a bit :eek: combination of buildings / contents insurance and OH's recent trip.

£4 earned from a survey today

Got a very nervous little dog as she was attacked by a bull terrier a few evenings ago. It would honestly have killed her if OH hadn't been there to get it off her :eek: Totally ineffectual owner :mad: OH and I both got bitten too, though not badly. I seriously considered reporting it to the police, as I dread to think what might have happened if an elderly person or child had been involved :eek: However, we inspected our wounds, and as all ok, including dog, and decided to leave it for now, as the dog belongs to a neighbour a bit further up the road, and we didn't want to cause trouble for her. Hopefully she has learned from it. She did apologise at the time, though has not been round to see if we are all ok :mad: It simply rushed across (she had it outside of her garden loose), grabbed our little old dog by her neck, and shook her really hard. OH had to prise its jaws apart to make it let go. Totally unprovoked, the poor little thing didn't even see it. Luckily she was on her lead, so we had some control. Not sure if I was right in not taking it further Why do people have these aggressive dogs :mad: No wonder you hear all these horror stories about children being attacked

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Perhaps when you've calmed down you could speak with your neighbour. Gauge your neighbours reaction/remorse and take it from there. If neighbour has learnt and will be keeping the dog on a lead then I think move on but if the neighbour is indignant then time to report it.

Hope pooch and you and OH are ok. Tetanus jabs up to date? Thankfully rabies has been eradicated in the UK.

misscousinitt

I really hope that you and OH and dog are OK??

MCI
xxx

Beckyy

I hope you, OH and your dog are ok!